Important – Mark Your Calendars!  May 14th is National Buttermilk Biscuit Day in the United States.

For those of you who have lived with me and woken up on a Saturday morning to hot coffee and my freshly-baked buttermilk biscuits (Anita, Colleen, Nina, Stephanie, Tawn?) you’ll know what I’m talking about.  I miss baking with a passion, living now without a source for buttermilk and, worse yet, no oven!

So I encourage each of you to go out on Sunday (or better yet, make your own – see recipe below) and eat a Buttermilk Biscuit for me.  Really.  Jam and butter, please.

Chris’ Buttermilk Biscuits – makes about 10

2 c. flour

1 T. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/4 c. vegetable shortening (such as Crisco)

1 T. butter, cold

3/4 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Mix dry ingredients in a bowl then cut in shortening and butter, forming pea-size chunks.  Make a well in the center of the bowl and pour in buttermilk.  Mix with a fork until dough pulls together but is still slightly sticky.  On a well-floured board, knead dough five times, folding dough over on itself each time.  Take care not to overwork the dough as this makes for tough biscuits. 

Pat dough to a height of one inch.  Use a biscuit cutter or a wine glass (about 2″ diameter) to cut biscuits – push straight down, don’t twist the cutter.  Place biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet, preferably aluminum, and bake in over for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve in a basket or bowl lined with a clean dish towel to retain the heat.

Ribs…

Living in another country can make you hungry for things that you wouldn’t necessarily eat at home very often.  Case in point: Tawn and I were both craving barbeque ribs, specifically the “knife and fork” ribs at Houston’s restaurant.  (Owned, interestingly, by the Hillstone Restaurant Group.  I normally don’t like chain restaurants, but they do a good job with the food and ambience.)

So Tawn and I went to the only place in Bangkok that I know of that serves ribs: Tony Roma’s.  There are two full-service locations in Bangkok, so we ate at the Siam Paragon location.  Really, why shouldn’t we spend as much time at this mega mall as possible?  That’s where all the other fashionistas are, after all.  (Tawn is a fashionista, right?) 

So we shared a platter of St. Louis style ribs, a half BBQ chicken, and some grilled sausages.  A lot of food!  But after having been quite conscientious about my dining habits over the past month a little splurge was okay.  After having been exposed to both Kansas City and Texas style barbeque, I’ll have to say that I find Tony Roma’s meats to be lacking in depth: no smoky flavor, just a lot of sauce.  But the meat was good quality and cooked to perfect tenderness while still being moist.  So points there.  And the service was really good.  And we really, really wanted some ribs, so it hit the spot. 

If you’ve ever been confused about the difference between babyback ribs, St. Louis ribs, spareribs, etc. here is a great site from the Ribman to explain it all.

While eating dinner, I reminisced that the last time I ate at a Tony Roma’s was in San Bernadino, California while I was attending school at University of California, Riverside in 1999.  As soon as I said “1999” I realized that, no, it had actually been 1989.  Which then got me to thinking that I am only two years away from my 20-year High School reunion.  That would be Adrian C. Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, CA.  Here is the Wikipedia article on the school along with the official website.  Could it really be 20 years?

After dinner we went to watch Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible: 3.  Thrills, explosions, cartoonish plot twists… what more could you expect?  An evening’s entertainment.

Car Broke

Wednesday evening I stopped by Tawn’s office and we were going to take the car to a 7:30 pm yoga class.  But when Tawn tried to start the car, it wouldn’t.  Lights were okay, so it wasn’t a battery issue.  We walked to yoga and the next day Tawn called a mechanic to come look at it.  Fortunately, it is only 200 baht for a house call.  How about that?

The bad news is that the problem couldn’t be fixed at the office so the car was towed to the garage.  Here’s the challenge:

• First, I’m not a car expert.  Despite my father’s best efforts and certain disappointment, getting my fingernails greasy while doing car repairs on our old 1967 Ford Fairlane was never much to my liking.  While I probably know a little bit more than Tawn about the inner workings of a car, it certainly isn’t a whole lot more so we’re making decisions in the dark. 
  
• Second, the language barrier poses some problems.  When a Thai mechanic explains the problems in Thai to someone who doesn’t have a lot of technical knowledge about cars, who then tries to translate this information into English… well, it doesn’t work very well. 
  
• Third, this mechanic is one that Tawn’s father has used for years so there might be some of the cultural propensity to respect the opinion of someone more experienced and senior than you, and to not challenge it too much.

So right now we’re having work done on the car: possibly the starter motor (related to the original problem) along with a leaky shock absorber and possibly a leaky seal or other problem with (maybe?) the drive shaft?  See how much the three factors conspire to create utter confusion?

It looks like the work will be finished today (Saturday) since yesterday was another holiday (Wan Visakha Bucha – the day and month of the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and death).  The total cost should be around 20,000 baht – US$550, the same as our monthly rent! – and while we don’t know the final cost Tawn was told the price includes a 10% discount as a long term customer. 

Confused?  So am I. 

Well, that’s part of the fun of living in another country, right?  Actually, I think this should be okay, though.  We haven’t done a lot of maintenance work on the car over the last year or two and it is at about ten years so is probably ready for a bit of work.  Since I don’t want to deal with buying another car if we can get a few more years out of this once, even 20,000 baht is a good investment.

Speaking Thai

I’m pleased to report that even though this week was the brief summer break enjoyed by Union Language School students, I did do some studying.  Not as much as I could have, but more than none.  Tod was kind enough to meet me three afternoons to spend about two hours speaking and, mostly, proofing my reading skills.  He’s a good teacher and places a lot of emphasis on correct pronunciation.  For any tonal language, that’s a must and I don’t get as much reinforcement from the teachers at ULS as I’d like to.

Going to Hong Kong

Tawn’s trip to Italy with his parents has been finalized.  This morning he is meeting his father at the Emirates ticket office – conveniently just a half-block up the street from us (hey, Khun Sudha, please stop by for a cup of joe) – to purchase the tickets.  To help plan the trip, I ordered two of Rick Steves’ guides to Italy.  His “Europe Through the Back Door” series is really useful and when Jenn, Kevin, my mother and I went to Italy several summers ago we found his guide books to be very useful.

I have to tell you, I was really impressed with amazon.com and DHL.  I placed the order for the two books early Friday morning local time in the US and selected express shipping (US$46 for a US$27 order!) because the next fastest option while twenty dollars less expensive would have taken nine business days.  On Monday morning when I returned from lunch, the clerk at the front desk of our condo building gave me my box from Amazon. 

At first, I thought it might have been shipped from a distribution center in Singapore or elsewhere in Asia.  But I double checked the shipping label and, sure enough, the books were actually shipped from the United States: New Castle, Delaware. 

That’s right: it took less than 60 hours from the time I placed the order until the books were in my hands, 14,059 km (8736 miles) away – according to the Great Circle Mapper – pretty impressive.  

Isn’t the world just shrinking incredibly?

So, back to the story (you’re probably wondering what all this has to do with Hong Kong, aren’t you?):

The travel books arrived and I poured through them placing sticky notes on various pages, underlining things, and pulling together six sample itineraries for Tawn’s trip.  Tawn then translated them and created a PowerPoint presentation complete with pictures from each of the cities they might visit.  Then he sat down with his parents on Friday and did the presentation, guiding them through their options.

I thought the whole thing was funny as Tawn didn’t anticipate his “client’s” short attention span: his father didn’t want to wait for the entire presentation so instead hijacked the meeting agenda.  But that’s okay; they nailed down a plan finally!

So now that they will be out of town for eleven days, I’m going to fly over to Hong Kong to visit friends.  I’ll stay with Chris, Tehlin and their son Sam.  While there, I hope to have a chance to see Big Michael, Edward, and another Chris and his partner, Antony.  Anyone else going to be in Hong Kong June 1-6?  Should be a lot of fun and a chance to eat some good dim sum again.

Speaking of Tawn’s family, here’s a picture of the extended clan at his Uncle’s funeral last fall.  Tawn was the one taking the picture, so he’s not in it.  But I’ve noted Tawn’s mother and father on the photo in the lower left corner.

Thursday or Friday evening past, we had a fantastic sunset.  For several minutes the entire western sky was this incredible shade of orange, which reflected an orange glow onto the rest of the city.  It only lasted a few minutes, though.  Just long enough for me to snap these pictures:

Above: view looking east with the sunset reflected on the buildings

Below: Looking southwest with the sunset reflected in the neighboring office building

Sunday evening Tawn and I went to the Siam Apex cinema, one of these old single-screen 1,200-seat theatres in the Siam Square area, to watch “Always: Sunset on Third Street.” 

Set in 1958 Tokyo, Japan, this story is based on a popular manga (cartoon books) series about the intersecting lives of locals who live in a neighborhood near the under-construction Tokyo Tower.

(Plot description borrowed from Variety magazine)

The story follows rural schoolgirl Mutsuko, who arrives from the provinces to begin her first job with Suzuki Auto. Initially impressed by meeting company “president” Norifumi Suzuki, Mutsuko is shocked to discover her workplace is actually a shabby auto repair shop in Tokyo’s down-at-heel Yuhi district.

Suzuki is a bad-tempered employer but Mutsuko is welcomed by his wife, Tomoe and their impish 5-year-old son, Ippei.  One of Ippei’s favorite haunts is a five-and-dime store managed by struggling serial writer Ryunosuke Chagawa.

When alluring newcomer Hiromi opens a sake bar in the area, she gathers clientele quickly but also finds herself lumbered with Junnosuke, the orphaned offspring of the bar’s previous owner.  Drunk, and smitten by Hiromi, Chogawa accepts custodianship of the boy.

The computer graphic effects are high quality, recreating the postwar era beautifully.  The cinemaphotography and set design are also the stars of the story.  One of the most telling sequences is when the Suzuki household becomes the first to have television and the entire neighborhood shows up to watch the first broadcast.  The broadcast is of a professional wresting match and on screen the several dozen locals are suddenly enveloped by the picture as if they were at the actual fight, conveying well the sense that watching a TV for the first time must have created.

All in all, while the plot jumps along in compressed and contrived ways (it was a manga after all) there are some really touching scenes.  Well worth checking out if it gets to a cinema near you or if you have Netflix.  The soundtrack was also gorgeous.  If you have broadband access go to the movie’s official site – while it is in Japanese, the main page plays some of the theme music when it loads.  This English language site has a more detailed description and stills from the film but none of the beautiful music.

The past few mornings as I’ve been walking down the street, I notice there are still large puddles of water on the roads and the air is unusually clean.  This leads me to believe that I’ve slept through some rainy nights.

This morning at about six o’clock (hok mong chaaw in Thai) a very loud clap of thunder woke me up.  Looking outside, the skies were ovecast but becoming light.  No sign of lightning, but we were treated to ongoing barritone rumbles of thunder.

The morning remained overcast and damp but not much cooler.  Rainy season must be getting closer if it hasn’t already arrived.

Yestereday we drove up to Ayutthaya to visit my former classmates Ron and Kari.  They’re Baptist missionaries from Texas, assigned to help set up Baptist churches in the central Thailand area.  Considering the country is about 95% Buddhist and 4% Muslim, that doesn’t leave them a lot to work with.  So they have their work cut out for them.

Located about 90 km north of Bangkok, Ayutthaya was the second capital of the Kingdom of Siam, from 1350 to 1767 A.D.  By the late 1600s it was one of the largest cities in Asia with a million inhabitants.  The accounts of European visitors from the time described it as an incredibly beautiful city.  The city today has about 80,000 residents and is mainly a tourist destination.  The central part of the city is an island that contains several historical parks, containing the ruins of the palace buildings.  These are large brick structures, walls and chedis (pagodas) and Buddha statues, many of which are headless after the Burmese ransacked the city in 1767. 

The ruins are interesting, but they are more awe-inspiring when you put them into context: the Grand Palace in Bangkok was modeled directly on the palace in Ayutthaya, so if you mentally superimpose that colorful, glittering architecture over the footprint of the ruins you can get an idea of how incredible they must have been.

We drove up to Ayutthaya with Jack and Eddy, Tawn’s friends.  Jack’s parents own property about 20 km oustide the city which includes a restored northern Thai-style house.  It is truly a beautiful complex, located alongside a khlong (canal) that allows for great breezes in the warm Central Thailand afternoons.

We originally were going to pick up Jack and Eddy at 8:30, but Eddy protested that it was too early so we settled on 9:00.  Then we were delayed by traffic (Jack lives in the Northwest suburbs of Bangkok) and didn’t arrive until about 9:40.  By that point Jack and Eddy were too hungry to travel so we went to a noodle shop in his village (which I’d describe as a housing development with lots of shops).

The noodle shop was funny because it is in a residential neighborhood typical of Bangkok: row upon row of similar-looking houses but in front of one of the them the owner had converted his carpark into a small noodle stand.  The “kitchen” is actually a thatched hut that would seem more appropriate on an island.  Concrete tables and benches are scattered throughout the garden with tall trees keeping them shaded.  Each day from 9:30 – 17:00 they serve up noodles.

Above: Eddy, Jack and Tawn.  Kwiaythiaw lek phiseet (“Special” small rice noodles with fishballs, pork patty, and wonton).  Noodle Hut set up in the front yard of a row house.

So it was 11:00 before we finally hit the road.  Fortunately there is a new tollway that leads most of the way to Ayutthaya so we made good time.  First we overshot the city to drop Jack and Eddy off at Jack’s parents’ house.  It is really out in the countryside.  The Thai style house is back in a garden behind the main house.

Here’s a 55-second video I shot providing a 360-degree view of the main courtyard between the different houses.  The first building is a main living space, glassed in with aircon.  The second building is a sala, or pavillion, that overlooks the river and is open on all sides to catch the breeze.  The third building has been set up as a wet bar and small kitchen, so you can entertain easily.  The final building is a guest bedroom that is actually newer construction but was done in the same style.  It can be open to the outside or closed up and have aircon turned on.

After dropping Jack and Eddy off, we backtracked to Ayutthaya, getting a bit turned around on the roads but eventually finding our way to the highway.  We arrived at Ron and Kari’s place about 1:00.

The afternoon was spent eating at a riverside restaurant on the south side of the island and then driving around to see different areas of the city, visiting the whole while.  The restaurant served really good grilled river prawns – very large! – that were so tasty.  We also had a nice tamarind-flavored hot and sour soup, stir-fried brocolli, and a chicken som tum salad.  The open dining room was above the river and well-shaded so we enjoyed the breeze and several bottles of ice-cold Coca Cola. 

Along the river there were groups of locals – mostly children but not exclusively – who were playing in the river, diving off small docks, and trying to beat the heat.

One of our stops was at a current temple right along the river that features fish feading as a way to make merit.  You buy three little bags of fish pellets for 10 baht (US$ 0.30) and then go to a little pier – there are hundreds if not thousands of fish swimming alongside the pier just waiting to be fed.  Left: Tawn (with umbrella), Kari and Ron feed the fish in the Chao Praya River.

Behind the main building of the temple is an ancient chedi and some very nice opportunities for pictures in the late afternoon sun.

(Above L-to-R: Buddha statue in front of a 20 metre (65 feet)  chedi, modern temple building glittering in the afternoon sun.)

At the end of the afternoon we stopped at Wat Monkhonbohpit to visit the talat (local market) behind it.  Jack’s mother called to request that Tawn pick up some “three taste mangos” – basically, candied mangos that are bitter, sweet and sour all at once.

The storm clouds to the northeast of us looked threatening and just as we finished up and got into the car the first sprinkles started to hit our windshield.  Just before this, I snapped this impressive picture of some of the old palace ruins backdropped by the dark clouds.

We dropped Ron and Kari back off at their house and then took a shortcut to the highway, winding our way back to Jack’s parents’ house in the rain.

Below: Interesting ruin at Wat Monkhonbohpit where a Buddha image has been overcome by the roots of a huge tree.  The image itself is about 1 meter (3.1 feet) high.

I’ve been tinkering with the look and feel of this blog, just to freshen it up a bit.  Don’t think I’m done quite yet.  But then I haven’t a large degree of HTML programming accumen so I think all the really cool things I could do are beyond my imagination.

Today was the last day of class for my second try of Thai Language Module 3.  I’ve completed a total of 80 days of instruction in Thai over the past six months, which suddenly seems like a lot less than four months.  I guess I’m not counting weekends, am I?

Anyhow, I did alright on the final exam but clearly need to speak the language a lot more in order to build strength in vocabulary and grammar.  After a lot of debate (mostly internal dialogue and some complaining to friends) I decided to sign up for Module 4.  If I quit now, I’m only halfway through learning to read and write, a tenuous position at best. 

To celebrate the final day of class, I made spinach hummus with toasted pita slices and brought them to class.  The students and teachers are a voracious bunch and pounced on it along with a super-large sugar cookie (think pizza-sized) covered with slices of fresh tropical fruit that one of my fellow students, Brenda, cooked.  She has an oven.  I envy her.  She’s offered to let me come over and use it.  I just may do that.

The spinach hummus was really good with cumin and garam masala and lots of garlic in it.

Discovered that botox can really melt away the years.  Picture posted to the right to demonstrate the nearly-miraculous effects!

This from the China Morning Post:

2 May (Phnom Penh, Cambodia) Some 300 Buddhist villagers, apparently angered by a rival faith within their community, have razed a partially built Christian church to the ground near the Cambodian capital, an official said Tuesday.

In a rare act of religious intolerance, the mob chanted “Destroy the church!” and “Long live Buddhism!” as it descended upon the unfinished Protestant church Friday in Boeng Krum Leu, 30 kilometers (18 miles) east of Phnom Penh, said Ros Sithoeun, a representative of the area’s Christian community.

Che Saren, the chief of Lvea Em district, said the Buddhists felt threatened by the visible presence of another faith. The church would have been the area’s second, but there is only one Buddhist pagoda to serve the spiritual needs of the overwhelmingly Buddhist community.

“The villagers were angry with the Christians in the village who they felt mocked their Buddhist beliefs,” said Che Saren.

The building was nearing completion when the villagers attacked it with hammers and sticks. The structure _ situated only 700 meters (yards) from the Buddhist pagoda _ was torn down and the rubble torched by the mob.

…

The Christians have not complained to the police, neither to recoup the lost investment in the now defunct church, nor to demand the arrest of the mob. The two sides came to a peaceful compromise after authorities gave them a lecture on the law of religious freedom, said Che Saren.

Cambodian Buddhists, which make up more than 90 percent of the population, are generally tolerant of other religions and all faiths have been allowed to freely practice in Cambodia, except during the Khmer Rouge era when adherents to all religions were persecuted.

This would be really funny if it weren’t true.  How un-Buddhist is that?

The first thing that sprung to mind was a line from the song “Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard That One Before” by The Smiths (from the album “Strangeways, Here We Come”:

“And the pain was enough to make

A shy, bald Buddhist reflect

And plan a mass murder.”

Watching the United States from the outside is much more fascinating – and disturbing – than living in it.  Especially as the “debate” rages about the “issue” of immigration.  I use quotes because these are words being used in the media to frame the topic.

From an outside perspective, I was shocked to read a small article in the Bangkok Post today talking about the protesters taking to the street for a day of action in cities across the US.  The little bits I pick up here and there – online on NPR or the New York Times, mostly – are filled with hyperbolic statements from both politicians and the media.

What’s even more disturbing is the questions I receive from students from other countries.  They can’t fathom how a nation made up of 99+% immigrants could be facing such strife over the topic.

I’m quite disappointed that among the US politicians, especially the statesmen and women in the Senate, there has been no apparent leadership.  What I’m really waiting for is someone who will give the following speech:

“My fellow Americans.  We are a land of immigrants; our country’s history and past successes and wealth have been achieved through the efforts of immigrants and the sons and daughters of immigrants.  Our future successes and wealth will be similarly tied to immigration.  The question of the costs of immigration cannot be considered without also considering the significant benefits of immigration.

At the same time, there are legitimate concerns around questions of border security, national sovereignty, and legal and lawful entry into this country.  These are serious concerns and they must be addressed.

There is a vast area of common ground that all sides in this discussion can come to agreement upon.  So let us begin a national discussion about immigration, setting aside hyperbole, hatred, and finger-pointing and instead embracing the values inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” 

I tell you, between Bush’s warmongering and threatening Iran, his inability to form a comprehensive energy conservation policy, and his inept leadership on the immigration debate (and he’s from a border state that is chock full of immigrants!), I don’t know how the US keeps from just falling apart.

The experience of customer service in Khrungthep vascilates between the obnoxious (see “Aqua Filter” previously) and surprising.  On Sunday I encountered the surprising, which was… in a word, surprising.

Our Electrolux coffee brewer, which we had purchased in January, crapped out on us shortly before my trip to the United States in March.  For weeks now we’ve made do with a single serving size French press brewer.  Coffee for two takes a long time and is quite involved. 

Replacing the brewer would run us at least 1500 baht (US$ 40) and that would get us the same thing we had before.  Nicer models were well north of that point.  I asked whether there were any places to repair small appliances.  Tawn suggested that we bring it back to Central, the department store where it was purchased, to see if they’d do anything for us.

Thailand is known for its friendly service, but not for its “the customer is always right” attitude.  From my experience travelling, the US really is home to the best customer service.  You can bring almost anything back any time and you’re likely to get a replacement or some compensation.  That is not the case here. 

But we decided to try.  So we brought the coffee maker into the store in a canvas tote bag and took it to the home electronics department.

After explaining to a supervisor that it wasn’t working (and noticing her shock that the carafe had not been washed out after our last attempt at making coffee – my mistake!) she went to plug it in and inspect it.  In an unprecedented (for Thailand) display of customer service, a few minutes later she brought out a new coffee brewer in the box and swapped its contents for our broken coffee brewer.

No further questions, no need for a receipt or other documentation.  The odd thing, though, was that she kept the box: we had to carry the new brewer home in the tote bag.

I’m glad the “buyer beware” mindset is changing, at least on this small scale.  I’ll have to be sure to share this story with Paul, Tawn’s cousin, who is a VP with Central’s retail group.  (Hmm… should have just pulled some strings, huh?)

This is another three-day weekend in Thailand with today being Labor Day.  The Thai government informed the civil servants that they would not be getting today off work as they are not laborers.  That was either intended as a compliment in a very class status-conscious society, or as an exacting commentary on the efficiency of the Kingdom’s bureaucracy.

Somehow I’ve found the time to go to yoga twice this weekend.  This is a good thing and since I have two weeks off school beginning on the 5^th I’ll make use of the 30-day unlimited pass I purchased from the yoga studio.  Lots of yoga makes for good exercise. 

Plus, I’m very pleased to publicly announce, this exercise combined with sensible (Thai style) eating continues to deliver some nice results.  Saturday morning I stepped on the bathroom scale and it reported that I’m at 205 pounds (93 kg).  When I moved here at the end of October 2005 I was at about 220 pounds (100 kg) and as recently as two years ago I was around 240 pounds (109 kg).  Over the same period my cholesterol count has dropped from twice normal risk to half normal risk and my blood pressure has returned from borderline to normal.

So among the weekend’s errands was a trip to the alterations shop at Central department store.  Three pairs of khakis and three pairs of dress slacks were taken in, both at the waist as well as a general tapering of the legs.  Buying relaxed fit was useful when my weight was higher, but looks downright clownish in a city where nearly skin-tight pants on skinny people is the norm.

As he was heading on a three-day press junket to Seoul, I dropped Tawn off at Don Muang International Airport about 22:00 Monday evening.  Traffic was a mess once we pulled off the expressway and it was frustrating after an evening of rushing around to suddenly grind to a halt.  We made it to Terminal 1 soon enough and he jumped out, grabbed his bag, and went to meet the two journalists he would be escorting.

Edging the car back into the slow stream of traffic, I headed back to the expressway for the thirty-minute ride back into the city.  When driving around town, especially by myself, I’m always a bit fearful.  I’m not carrying my international driver’s license (should put it in the car, shouldn’t I?), it isn’t even officially stamped by the Thai DMV, and my name isn’t the same as the one on the car’s registration.  If I was pulled over, I don’t know if two hundred baht would be enough to get me out of the scrape.

Working from home has its plusses and minuses.  Not having a separate room to use as an office, I get a little stir crazy.  I work in the living/dining/kitchen room and after a while I need another point of view.  Sometimes I take Tawn’s laptop (smaller than mine and not hooked up to an external monitor) and go to Starbucks or somewhere, but so many of them don’t have any electrical outlets.  Plus, if you’re working by yourself and you have to go to the haang naam you have to shut everything down, go, and then return hoping your seat by the electrical outlet is still there.  A little less than convenient.

I’m also surprised by the waves of productive and nonproductive time.  Some afternoons I just can’t focus and don’t get a whole lot done.  Other afternoons I’m tearing through projects, the direction is really clear, and I suddenly look up to discover it is eight or nine in the evening.  Why is that?

Last night, after a productive afternoon, I met up with Tod at Siam Paragon (c’mon, it is halfway between our houses) for a 19:30 screening of 16 Blocks starring Bruce Willis and Mos Def, preceeded by a light bite of dinner downstairs in the food court.  The movie was pretty entertaining despite a few glaring holes in the plot.  Mos Def is a talented actor.